Beauty contests of tsarist Russia or how the tsars chose their brides

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

It turns out that beauty contests and auditions were invented long before the era of television. In Russia, the search for a tsar's wife was so difficult that it was necessary to look through hundreds and even thousands of excellent applicants until the very one was found.

Before Peter I, foreign marriages were not held in high esteem in Russia. A Catholic wife, to put it mildly, was not very welcome here, so they looked for sweetheart for the king-father in their own country. Of course, preference was given to boyar and noble daughters, but the autocrat could easily marry a merchant's daughter, if she pleased him.

It was believed that any girl is a servant in comparison with the tsar, therefore the issue of origin was not very much concerned about the Russian autocrats, so the notorious wife of Ivan the Terrible Martha Sobakina had a modest merchant origin. The princesses were the worst of all in those days, because they could not be equal (any husband, if only he humiliated the royal daughter by his origin), so most of these unfortunates ended their lives at monasteries.

Cry and look

When the king realized that it was time for him to get married, he threw a kind of cry to the whole country so that families where there were suitable maidens for marriage were ready for the upcoming examination. "Casting" as a royal wife in Russia was a large-scale phenomenon. For the initial selection of brides, people close to the king were responsible, who traveled to all cities of the country, selecting suitable girls. Beauty was of particular importance here. Those applicants who went through a kind of first round were supposed to appear by a certain date for the Moscow review, and the invitation to visit the capital was not at all recommendatory … from all over the country has never been canceled.

Body check

It is clear that not only a beautiful and chaste girl should have become a royal wife, but also a healthy one, because the main purpose of the queen is childbearing, therefore, midwives took a special place in assessing the health of the applicants. It was at this stage that intrigues usually began, which were built not only by the relatives of potential brides, but also by the mothers of the tsars. So 20-year-old Mikhail Fedorovich Romanov fell in love at the bridegroom with the daughter of the Kolomna boyar Maria Khlopova, but the young tsar's mother immediately disliked the girl because of her numerous relatives and "thinness". The girl was settled in the palace on the eve of the wedding with all the honors due to the royal bride. After a short time, Maria suddenly fell ill with an inexplicable illness, the boyars immediately called the girl "fragile", exiled to Nizhny Novgorod.

But the mysterious illness in exile suddenly disappeared, but the young autocrat's mother still managed to dissuade him from marrying Khlopova. After 8 years, Mikhail Fedorovich nevertheless married Maria Dolgoruka, but a couple of days after the wedding, the girl suddenly fell ill, and a few months later she was buried. After 2 years, the All-Russian review of brides was again held, 60 of the most beautiful and well-born girls reached the "final", but the tsar distinguished himself here too, choosing not a noble beauty, but a distant relative of one of the applicants. The girl's name was Evdokia Streshneva, she came from Mozhaisk and did not have the necessary position, but the king insisted on the wedding. The father and brothers of the bride, realizing that the mother did not like the girl again, the Tsar guarded and guarded her right up to the wedding, fearing the traditional "sudden illness". But apparently the mother decided to give her daughter-in-law a chance, if only because of the desire to have grandchildren. Evdokia gave birth to her husband 10 children, including the future Tsar Alexei Mikhailovich (father of Peter I).

Large-scale casting

When the date of the show in Moscow came, hundreds, and sometimes thousands of potential brides came to the capital. Then the best ones were chosen from them, often in several stages, the remaining applicants took part in a kind of "final" in the royal chambers. It also happened that the tsar personally examined all the girls who arrived in Moscow, and sometimes he was content with a few dozen of the most trusted girls.

The winner of the show was always only one, and at stake was not a diadem with rhinestones, but a real royal crown, so it is not surprising that a real war was fought between the rivals, often with victims. Poisoning was the most common way to deal with a negligent competitor, but it didn't end there. Damage and love spells in those days were even more popular than now, but the directed one is not ready to work "miracles".

The lucky women, who were still lucky to reach the final, took part in the last show, which was conducted by the emperor himself, sitting on a gilded armchair. Each girl approached him and bowed low at his feet, after which she could only wait on the sidelines for the king's decision. According to the old tradition, which came to Russia from Byzantium, the autocrat got up and approached the girl he liked, after which he threw a scarf embroidered with pearls and gold on her chest. The "losers" girls were allowed to go home with valuable gifts, although they often immediately married the tsar's close associates, who also looked closely at the selected "brides".